Our favorite Twitch streamers

Livestreaming has quickly become a huge part of PC gaming, and Twitch has been at the center of it all. But with hundreds of games being played and thousands of streamers playing them—enough to warrant its own convention, TwitchCon—it can be hard to know what to watch. Finding the most popular streamers is easy, but there's a lot more out there.

We asked the PC Gamer staff and writers for their personal favorite Twitch streamers for any and all games. These are streamers who are fun to watch, educational, engaging, or all of the above. Even if you've never played the game they're streaming, you can enjoy the show they're putting on.

Don't see your favorite streamer on the list? Tell us who they are in the comments below. And if you want to learn how to stream yourself, be sure to check out our beginner's guide to livestreaming.

BreaK is quick, eagle-eyed, and a ridiculously good shot in DayZ: check his well-curated highlights for a 400 meter longhorn kill as one example. He sometimes teams up with other notable streamers like ngotie and sacriel for DayZ teamplay, which makes for great multi-stream watching, and other times goes for solo romps. He's enthusiastic without sounding like a game show host, chill without without being a bore, informative without lecturing, and he alternates tactical teamplay with more loose and playful sessions.

The biggest reason I enjoy watching him is he seems genuine and good-natured, a fun and amiable guy who really loves what he's doing. He's got a great community, and he occasionally invites them into the game with him for subscriber events. He's also a talented 3D modeler and will occasionally devote some screentime to that pursuit.

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GuardsmanBob

Twitch — Youtube — TwitterGame(s) they usually stream: Hearthstone, Heroes of the StormDo expect: Great viewer-curated music and very interactive streamsDon't expect: Much talking, but when he does you’ll hear a voice made for radio

Submitted by: Tom Marks

GuardsmanBob was a huge League of Legends streamer for a long time, but has since moved on to Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm. He doesn’t speak too much, but when he does, it’s in a laidback tone with something informative to say about the game he’s playing. His stream has a relaxed atmosphere, perfect to watch while working or follow closely and learn from depending on what suits you.

He also codes all of his own bots for the stream, making it a very interactive experience. You can vote to rate the song being played—which will change how often it comes up—set the flag of your country to appear next to your name, guess how many wins he’ll get before an arena run, and he even has an automated system set up to let viewers draft his arena decks by voting in the chat.

If you’re trying to get into Dota 2, Kevin “Purge” Godec’s Welcome to Dota, You Suck guide is an essential starting point that elucidates the rules and structure of a Dota 2 game in curt, no-nonsense fashion. Expect a similar style from Purge’s streams, in which he casts games with his friends, dropping pearls of wisdom while calmly criticising everyone’s play, including his own. Start with his YouTube channel. There you’ll find his “Learn about Dota 2” series and, even better, Purge Casts a Pub—recent editions of which have been captured at a crisp 60fps. Last year Purge brought some welcome clarity to The International for new players on the noob stream, and he’s already casting the US qualifiers for TI5.

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StrifeCro

Twitch — Youtube — TwitterGame(s) they usually stream: HearthstoneDo expect: Deck innovation before the meta catches onDon't expect: Cong killing time on Tinder like ReynadSubscribers get thanked with: The Cro Fist, an oddly tentative fist bump at the camera which remains awkward despite him having done it 1,000s of times

Submitted by: Tim Clark

Hmm, given the amount of Hearthstone I watch trying to pick my favourite streamer is like Sophie’s Choice, only all my children grew up to be wizard poker players. I tend to favour educational streamers who can improve my game but not subject my ears to the the kind of Eurotrance usually reserved for psychological torture. Savjz’s play and music are both excellent, whilst no one explains their plays more methodically than Lifecoach, but forced to pick one I have to go with Cloud9’s Cong “StrifeCro” Shu.

Widely regarded as one of the best players in the world (you need to be when one of your practice mates is Kolento), what I love most about StrifeCro’s stream is how happy and relaxed he remains despite the slings and arrows of outrageous RNG. Lucky top decks and crushing losses are laughed off with equal ease—check out his reaction to some amazing Blingtron shenanigans—and regardless of the game state he calmly explains the factors behind each decision. He’s also a great deckbuilder, going on a record 33-win streak with his build of midrange Paladin while streaming last season, and shifts classes often, playing Handlock and Grinder Mage most recently. Essentially, the guy is an ocean of adorability in a game where a message from a raging opponent ordering you to kill yourself is only ever a couple of turns away.

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Michael “imaqtpie” Santana

Twitch — Youtube — TwitterGame(s) they usually stream: League of LegendsDo expect: Dank memes and raised dongersDon't expect: Maturity or seriousness in any conceivable sense"Special" donations: It’s probably no surprise at all that he’s got a donation alert specifically for $4.20

Submitted by: James Chen

It was hard to imagine the former Team Dignitas AD carry lasting very long in competition in the first place. Not because he was particularly bad, mind you—more in the sense that competition didn’t seem to mean all that much to him. The hard work and seriousness espoused by his peers in Forg1ven and others was antithesis to the imaqtpie ideals, whose flowing locks, goblin’s grin, and Cheech & Chong act steadily made him one of the most influential streamers in the entirety of League of Legend’s gargantuan Twitch.tv presence.

Half of the memes that leak out of the LoL bloc can be credited to, or blamed on, him. You watch Faker on Azubu to learn at God’s feet, TSM’s Bjergsen to bask in the glory of NA’s best, but you stumble groggily back to Michael Santana in the end, to chill out with League of Legend’s lord of levity.

Former Computer Gaming World editor, and Dark Souls speedrun world record holder Jeff Green is a one-man army when it comes to FromSoft’s combat RPGs. He steamrolled the original game in only around 100 hours, and has since come to master the sequel, to conquer Hearthstone, and whatever else he turns his talents to.

OK, so you’re probably not watching Jeff for a masterclass on Dark Souls play, but there’s something hugely refreshing about a funny, 50-something guy taking on one of the greatest challenges in games. Twitch is rife with Dark Souls streamers that can beat the game with their eyes closed, but the sense of communal triumph when Jeff finally overcomes a tricky area or boss is second to none. That’s not to undersell Jeff’s talent as a host—if his other viewers are anything like me, they’re watching more for the jokes, for the in-jokes and Jeff’s topical musings, than the game itself.

Currently laid up thanks to a spinal injury (get better soon, Jeff!), he can generally be found in the city of Yharnam, demonstrating his mastery of Bloodborne.

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SpeedRunsLive

Website — TwitterGame(s) they usually stream: EverythingDo expect: Games done quickDon't expect: A single personality

Submitted by: Phil Savage

I've never been drawn to a single streamer, but I do like to watch speedruns. Hence, SpeedRunsLive, a site that shows all currently streaming speedrunners. The list is organised by the number of viewers, which makes it easy to find the biggest names in the community and, as a result, some of the fastest and most spectacular runs. While much of the community prefers classic console games, you'll always find at least some PC-specific runs, be it Skyrim, GTA, or something less well known. My advice is to pick streams based on the games you love. Speedrunners' skills are all the more impressive if you know the game they're currently destroying.

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Oshi7

Twitch — Youtube — Twitter (Fred) & Twitter (Emily)Game(s) they usually stream: DayZ, Battle Royale (Arma III mod)Do expect: Surprisingly romantic zombie murder, chat with a community of subscribersDon't expect: Sledging, meanness, tips on how to playSubscribers get thanked with: The “dragon flex”, which will make you feel very unfit

Submitted by: Jody Macgregor

Two things I enjoy watching are snipers being murdered and couples who love each other being cute, and the Oshi7 channel is the one place where I can get both. Emily and Fred mostly play DayZ, and they turn it into an oddly romantic sitcom. Go back to 2013 and you can watch Emily sitting in the background eating a bowl of pasta while Fred plays, in the days when they were first dating. When he goes to the toilet and gets attacked by a zombie she tries to figure out a game she’s never played before to rescue him, while everyone in the chat window urges her on.

Two years later they’re a married duo of counter-bandits and she’s avenging him after someone kills him with a lucky shot from Veresnik Hill. Fred’s response is, “Emily is amazing. I have married me a mighty fine woman.” Buzzing with adrenaline, she replies: “Let’s. Make. Love.” It’s a beautiful story you wouldn’t get on any other channel.

There are plenty of good options for watching competitive CS:GO, from daily CEVO or FACEIT league matches to ESL and IEM majors. The scene has matured across the board over the past year, and that extends to its broadcasters. My favorite duo, hands-down, is Anders and Semmler, the “Room On Fire” team. Anders’ smart, mostly-stoic Swedish play-by-play complements Semmler’s more colorful, almost New Jersey affect as he sprinkles in great analysis and infectious outbursts. They do a wonderful job of expressing the athleticism and strategic mind math of Counter-Strike but in a playful, usually informative way that’s friendly to new players, and their understanding of individual players’ histories and tendencies is unparalleled.

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SolitaryWolfXD

Twitch — Youtube — TwitterGame(s) they usually stream: League of LegendsDo expect: To learn something, experimentation with the LoL meta and community games with his subscribersDon't expect: To learn how to ward—you’ll need to do that elsewhere

Submitted by: Jem Alexander

The more you learn about how to play League of Legends, the more restrictive the meta seems to be. Not for the SolWolf. This Twitcher has a long running (150+ episodes!) YouTube series called Breaking The Meta, in which he experiments with playing champions in lanes they really oughtn’t go. Braum in top lane? Sona in mid? He makes a pretty convincing case for each.

Lately he’s taken the series to Twitch, where you can watch him record the show live and, if you’re brave enough to play with those of Platinum rank, even take part. If you’re not at that level yet, chances are you’re going to be able to take something away from SolWolf’s streams into your next games. He’s great at explaining what he’s doing and why for those who already have some basic knowledge of the game, though he’s probably not very noob-friendly. Probably one of the nicest guys on Twitch, he’s got the Californian hippy thing going for him, so even when he’s stomping his foes into the ground, it almost feels like he’s doing so with love.

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PC Gamer

Twitch — Youtube — TwitterGame(s) we usually stream: EverythingDo expect: Early looks at unreleased games and Steam Key giveawaysDon't expect: Flawless, high-level play (we play a lot of different games, not always ones we've played before)

That's right, we have our very own live stream for PC Gamer, usually hosted by Tom Marks and streamed from our living room super computer, the LPC Jr. We usually stream something different each time and often stream early looks and previews of games that aren't out yet, giving you a wide look at what's popular in PC gaming right now.

We stream three days a week: Mondays and Fridays from 3-5pm PDT and Wednesdays from 10am-12pm PDT. Steam keys have been known to mysteriously fall into Twitch chat, their origins and contents a mystery to all but those who redeem them.